


Close Encounters (of the Villainous Kind)

by eutrash (AreteNike)



Series: Life Less Ordinary [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, hunk is a civilian, pidge is a superhero anyway. lance just gets paid to freeze people., shiro and zarkon are villains, talk about a meet cute tho lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 19:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreteNike/pseuds/eutrash
Summary: Lance isn't a supervillain... but he's not a superhero, either. What he is, is available for hire.If he doesn't get killed, anyway.





	Close Encounters (of the Villainous Kind)

**Author's Note:**

> not much of this is actually new... part of it was for shance week last year, and part is from a prompt on tumblr that i never added to my prompt collection bc i intended to put it here. its all been edited to fit into this au better since shance week was my first foray into it and some of my ideas have changed haha
> 
> if youve stumbled across this because its gen, ill just give you a heads up that this series is mostly ship fic. not necessarily Overtly shippy and definitely no smut or anything, but ye.

Vigilante justice doesn’t pay the bills.

…Unless you find the people that want a job done and have money and you don’t ask too many questions.

Lance doesn't need to find them anymore; now they find _him_. He's gonna lose some of that good rep though if someone doesn't take this _goddamn barrier_ down real soon. His current client is waiting for him right now on the other side, but only civilians can get through, because there's a massive battle on downtown.

It's not like he's gonna join in the fight--at this point, he wouldn't even do it for money, out of spite--and going around isn't really any less of a hassle. So he crouches on top of somebody's roof and ignores the glares the pigeons are giving him.

And their droppings. He can't wait to get home and take a fuckin' shower, this roof is disgusting.

At least he's got a nice view, even if he has to deal with the occasional passing hero (or villain) giving him a dirty look--everyone knows he doesn't work for free.

"Sup, Permafrost," a voice says right in his ear, almost startling him off his perch.

"Fuck! You gotta stop doing that, dude."

"Mm, nope." The speaker flickers into view, grin first--though he's pretty sure that's just for the aesthetic. "It's more fun this way."

"I hate you, Kitty."

" _Cheshire_ , asshole."

"Cheshire Kitty. Whatever."

She huffs and lets it go. "So? Seen anything good, O Icy One?"

"Nope. Same old, same old. Buncha heroes, buncha lackeys--no big baddies."

"Figures. I assume you're not getting involved."

"Nope. You know me."

"Unfortunately, I do. Well, I'm heading down." She stands and stretches. "Unlike you, I'm not averse to a good deed now and then."

"You just wanna make the lackeys piss themselves."

She snickers. "You got me there. Stay frosty, Frosty."

"You know I will," Lance says, as she slides down the roof towards the edge.

"Um," she says moments later. "I'm gonna need a hand here, buddy."

Lance grins almost as widely as her namesake. "Did the kitty get caught up a tree?"

"Shut up and get me down!"

"Just jump, you'll land on all fours."

" _Permafrost!_ "

"Alright, alright. But you owe me," he says, and slips down the roof to join her. "What's your budget? I can give you a fire pole if you're feeling cheap; the deluxe package gets you a slide. Railings cost extra."

She looks at him flatly. "Frosty, I fucking hate you."

"Slide it is." He adjusts his gloves with a grin, and grips the gutter. Ice crackles around his hands, spreading up the roof and shooting down to the ground in a spiral. She eyes it warily as she gets into position.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asks.

"If it isn't, you have my sincerest apologies," he says, and gives her a little push. Against the slippery ice, that's all it takes--down she goes, yelling all the while.

"FROSTY!" she screeches, and he peers over the gutter in time to see her stumbling away from the slide's bottom.

"You're welcome!" he calls cheerily.

She flips him off, and flickers out of view--her middle finger is the last part to disappear, naturally. Her footsteps run off as soon as it does, and he lets the slide evaporate; the fight's still going and he has no intention of leaving his perch yet. He goes to climb back up to the roof's peak, but something stops him in his tracks.

It's a _presence_. Something dark and cunning, that makes him wither where he sits. Shit--this is no lackey.

There's a heavy thump, and he turns his head to look, breath frozen in his chest. A man stands there, tall and black-robed and wearing a cruel, inhuman purple skull for a mask. _Shit_ \--this isn't just "no lackey", this is the _boss_. And Lance is caught right in his path.

"Permafrost," he rumbles. Oh god, he knows who he is. Oh god.

"H-hey..."

He walks along the roof, stopping at its peak right above Lance, so close Lance can almost see the skin around his glowing yellow eyes through the eye sockets of his mask. "Are you going to interfere?" he growls.

"N-nope. Stayin' out of it, thanks," Lance squeaks.

"Wise of you," The Emperor says, and then he sweeps back across the roof and onto the next. There's a few really muscled guys there waiting for him, dressed all in purple and black, which is a hell of an aesthetic and if Lance weren't scared shitless he'd be seriously impressed.

One of the retinue looks straight at Lance, just for a moment. His eyes also glow yellow, but his right hand glows purple.

Then the whole party passes out of sight, and Lance can move again. He sags against the nearest roof and just breathes for a while. He can't help but think that if he'd ever actually picked a side--if he'd chosen to be a hero--he'd be dead now.

The fight ends shortly; whether it's due to The Emperor's interference, he doesn't know. He doesn't want to.

He holds it together long enough to get paid, at least.

* * *

“HOLY SHIT HUNK I ALMOST DIED.”

Hunk starts, almost dropping his tray of freshly baked muffins. He quickly sets it down instead to see Lance, still in costume, climbing in through his window.

“You can use the door, you know,” he points out.

“I don’t--listen, I just almost _died_.” Lance all but falls through the window and staggers back up to his feet. He has a tendency to exaggerate--a lot--so Hunk isn’t too inclined to take his exclamation seriously, until he pulls off his mask and looks up, and _damn_ he looks freaked.

“What happened?” Hunk asks, steering Lance toward a chair and handing him a fresh muffin.

“The Emperor,” Lance says. Hunk freezes.

“You-- _what?_ ”

“He was right in front of me, Hunk.” Lance holds the muffin in shaking hands, staring down at it. “He looked right at me? Like, we made eye contact. He asked if I was gonna interfere, shit, Hunk, if I was a hero he might’ve actually killed me. Shit.” He gives a kind of hysterical chuckle. “He had, like, a posse? All of these really buff guys all in black, and one had a glowing hand. Any of them could have killed me. Holy _shit_ , Hunk.”

“Champion,” says Hunk, and leans heavily against a counter. Okay, Lance isn’t exaggerating. He just looked Death in the eye and survived; Death, _and_ Death’s Right Hand. “Yeah. You’re seriously lucky, dude.”

“I _know_.” Lance looks up, lifts his hands--still holding the muffin--toward the sky. “Thank you, God, I’ll never doubt you again. I’ll be better. I’ll do good things sometimes? Yeah.”

Hunk snorts. That's all lies, but it means Lance is calming down, at least. Which means he can start asking questions.

“Hey,” he says. “Did any of them use their powers?”

Lance sobers quickly. “For your dossier project, right? No, no one did. I mean, the hand guy had glowing eyes too but he wasn’t doing anything. There was, like, a presence, though.”

“A presence?”

“Yeah. It just… felt evil. Like it was trying to suck the life out of me.” Lance shudders.

Hunk nudges his knee with his foot. “Eat your muffin, dude. You’ll feel better. Anything else?”

“No, that’s it.” Lance bites into the muffin and makes an appreciative groan. “This is so fucking good, dude.”

“Of course it is.” Hunk grins.

“Hell yeah. What do I owe you?” Lance asks around another bite.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go home and get some rest, okay?”

“You’re the best, Hunk.” Lance stands and punches Hunk’s arm lightly. They exchange a grin before he puts his mask back on. “See ya, bud.”

“Yeah, dude.”

The minute Lance leaves--out the door, this time--Hunk is pulling his phone out, though. He dials quickly and taps his foot impatiently as it rings.

“Make it quick,” says the voice on the other end, when it’s finally picked up.

“A mutual friend spotted Champion today. Said his hand was glowing.”

“Yeah, I just saw him too.” A pause. “Was it Frosty? Holy shit, is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Shaken up, though. He came face to face with The Emperor himself.”

“Shit. Okay, did he see anything useful, though?”

“Well, Champion’s eyes were glowing, too.”

A pause. “Did he say what color? This is really important, Hunk.”

“I… no, he didn’t. Not the hand or the eyes. Why?”

“Well, glowing eyes is The Emperor’s thing. I… Look, I don’t have enough evidence yet to say for sure. But I think the nullification thing might be a red herring. Just keep me posted, okay?”

“Yeah, Pidge. Will do.”

Pidge hangs up, and Hunk stares at his phone’s black screen. They so rarely get information on villains still at large--the information they most need. But, well, Hunk doesn’t have any powers, and he’s not about to get himself in a situation where he meets any of them personally.

So he tucks the phone away and returns to his muffins. They’ll figure it out eventually. Hopefully.

* * *

A few months later, the news comes out that The Emperor was taken down by one of his own. Lance and Hunk both breathe a sigh of relief with the rest; villain or hero or mercenary, the guy posed a more serious threat than basically anyone else. Even if The Witch is still at large, everyone can sleep a little easier at night.

Hunk, though, remains with dossier unfilled. Maybe, he thinks, the Champion--because who else could have defeated The Emperor?--will resurface.

Maybe next time he'll be a hero.

**Author's Note:**

> ffffind me on tumblr @maternalcube yo


End file.
